Spotswood: Water board race could be county's hottest contest

There's a wide-open contest for one seat on the five-member Marin Municipal Water District board. In Ross Valley's 3rd Division, appointed incumbent Liza Crosse of Woodacre is opposed by Fairfax Vice Mayor Larry Bragman.

Given the limited number of contested elections on November's ballot, what's normally a low-profile contest for the $175-per-meeting post will be one of Marin's marquee races.

MMWD manages 21,500 acres of pristine watershed, guaranteeing top-quality drinking water while providing fire flow for Marin fire hydrants. Its spectacular acreage is a recreational amenity prized by hikers and bikers — who are frequently at each other's throats — and environmentalists determined to protect is biodiversity.

The latter's goal can conflict with one of the water district's most daunting responsibilities, making certain that the tinder-dry watershed isn't the origin of a potentially fatal wildland fire.

The dilemma is that 50,000 Marinites who live in the urban-wildland interface demand prompt cost-effective action.

That imperative comes up against green activists passionately opposed to using pesticides or controlled burns to eradicate the invasive species plague. Their preferred alternative, hiring workers to remove accumulated brush by hand, is fabulously expensive.

It's a classic Marin conflict and will be a subtest to much rhetoric surrounding the Crosse-Bragman campaigns.

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Few have ever heard of the Marin Pupil Transportation Authority.

It's a joint powers agency established by 10 Marin school districts to now transport 212 of Marin's special needs students ages 3 to 25. It provides no bus services for the general student population. Nor does it supply special needs buses for Dixie, Novato or West Marin school districts.

Operating on a $2.7 million budget, general manager Dennis Petri is its sole employee, earning $127,655 in total compensation. The low-profile agency contracts with First Student, the bus company formerly known as Laidlaw, and taxis to move the kids.

MPTA performs an important but costly duty. It pays First Student and the cab companies nearly $2.5 million annually for transportation. That's $11,758 per kid.

Special education is invariably expensive. The necessary question is whether there's a more efficient means of transporting the children. In education's zero sum world, any money saved could instead be directed toward enhancing all public schools.

The agency exists in the shadows. Its meeting notices satisfy the letter but not the spirit of California's open meetings law, the Ralph M. Brown Act.

Notices are posted on a bulletin board next to Petri's office at the county Office of Education and mailed to the business managers of the agency's constituent school districts. That's it.

While the authority performs an essential task, no independent agency, even the most efficient, should operate without a public spotlight on its activities and spending.

Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley shares his views on local politics on Wednesdays and Sundays in the Marin IJ. His email address is spotswood@comcast.net.